If you’re in the industry, you already know that real estate agents and brokers spend more time in their cars than anywhere else. We eat in our cars, we take calls in our cars (safely, of course), we hold meetings in our cars, you get the picture.
So when it comes to maximizing the success of your personal real estate business, why don’t we focus more on convenience and on-the-go solutions for agents?
Luckily, it’s become easier for us to do just that with the help of some innovative tech and crafty solutions to everyday pains.
Keep reading to find out what you should have in your toolbox … ugh … car if you want to run your real estate business on-the-go.
Stop sitting in class
Have you ever missed an important call about a deal because you were sitting in continuing education class?
We all know that when the time of year rolls around for us to renew our license, thoughts of sitting in the classroom start racing through our minds, and we’re filled with dread. Well, dread no more. There’s an app for that now!
AceableAgent lets you complete your continuing education on your phone so you can work through it anywhere and anytime. Like, ahem, your car.
It’s the only mobile app option for CE, which makes using AceableAgent a no-brainer. Now you can be productive while you wait for your client to arrive for the showing they’re late for — again.
Ditch the paper documents
If you’re still carrying around physical copies of all of your contracts and documents, you’re going to love these alternative options.
Most aspects of the business have gone digital at this point, and now you can go one step further with mobile app document signing.
Programs such as Genius Scan allow you to immediately digitize documents while others like DocuSign help you send and sign at any time.
To take your business completely cloud-based, consider using programs such as Egnyte, Carbonite or Google Drive, and experience having every client document and business-related file from the past 10 years available at your fingertips.
If you’d also like to ditch those paper receipts you’ve been carrying around, check out Expensify for easy expense recording and reporting.
Stop carrying around video equipment
The days of having to haul around cameras and video tools are behind us. Home tours and listing photos? No sweat.
Apps like Splice by GoPro allow you to easily shoot and edit video straight from your phone while others like Adobe Photoshop Express and Darkroom allow you to edit photography at the swipe of a finger.
Finally lose those business cards
If your wallet is two inches too thick because it’s full of business cards or you feel like you’re constantly fishing them out from the bottom of your purse, you’ll love knowing you can now easily scan business cards into your contacts or CRM system from your phone.
CamCard allows users to scan, manage and sync business card info into your phone or computer immediately with added capabilities like adding notes and reminders and searching easily through your existing contact base.
Take calls the safe way
You’re a real estate agent. You can’t miss a call — ever. And because you often find yourself driving all over town for showings and open houses, having bluetooth capabilities, specifically with voice commands enabled, in your car or on a headset can be a total lifesaver.
No brainer, right?
If it’s time to splurge on a new ride, consider picking one with built-in voice command functionality.
If you’re a few years away from a new car, there are a number of great hands-free headset options on the market. We can all agree that distracted driving is something we should opt to leave in the past.
These are just a few of the many new tools available to real estate agents and brokers in today’s industry.
Do you have a favorite way of keeping your business mobile and nimble? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Tarek Morshed is a realtor with Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty in Austin. Follow him on Facebook or connect with him on LinkedIn.
